Conventionally, television tuners were formed using multiple analog components. Such tuners are typically referred to as can tuners, and typically include many analog components (e.g., up to 100 or more) including amplifier, surface acoustic wave (SAW) filter, other filters and mixers and so forth that combine to form the analog television tuner.
As semiconductor technologies continue to improve, advancements have been made in forming a television tuner using semiconductor devices. However, generally the need for off-chip components such as a SAW filter or other external analog components is still present. Furthermore, conventional tuners and semiconductor tuners are typically manufactured for a given type of television signal (i.e., analog or digital) and standard and thus do not provide for ready incorporation into systems for use with varying television standards. At the least, significant manufacturing challenges with regard to tuning of off-chip components and re-configuration of the tuner, as well as the expense of exotic semiconductor processes used.
That is, worldwide television standards can vary significantly in the frequency ranges at which signals are transmitted, the types of modulation and encoding of the signals, and the different frequencies to which the received signals are downconverted and processed. Still further, different standards with regard to sound information present in television signals also exist, which can lead to complications in trying to adapt a given tuner device to a particular system.